Back in Belize

So, I’ve been in Belize for two months now, and this is my first blog post. As you will see, I’ve been pretty busy! But I have written a few retrospective posts to update you. I'll add pictures when I go into town and have a faster connection.

I got here in January, in the company of my good friend Meg, a fellow archaeology grad student at UNC. She wanted to visit me in Belize at some point, and when I told her how overwhelming it was going to be to just get set up down there, and we found cheap plane tickets, she decided to come help me out. Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done without her! First of all, I had a lot of stuff. The first phase of my research includes mapping archaeological sites that I saw last summer, as well as new ones that I find in the study area. To do that, archaeologists use land surveying equipment, called a Total Station. With our personal luggage and all my equipment (including two computers and heavy reference books) we had two oversize suitcases, one huge backpack, and two carry-ons each, including the Total Station – a fragile piece of equipment on loan from my adviser. There’s no way I could have done it alone. Even with two of us it was a chore – our seatmate on the first flight wished us luck skeptically after we nearly clocked him while gathering our stuff.

It was a long day, but once in PG Doug picked us up from the airport. For the next few days we decompressed in PG – well, I decompressed and slept a lot to catch up from the wild days of packing and leaving the country. Meg read a lot and explored PG with Doug and his neighbor’s dog, Chloe. Once I did wake up, it was really fun to show her around PG and Toledo! We explored waterfalls and visited all the archaeological sites we could.

We borrowed a truck from a friend and picked up the equipment I would need from my adviser’s lab, squeezing in a beach trip along the way. We met with the village leader, Abraham Kan, to make sure things were in order for me to start work in a few weeks (more on that later). She even helped me clean my house, and decorated my room for me with pictures she’d printed out while I wrote grants. We got so much done, and having Meg there kept me sane and made boring or gross tasks more enjoyable.

The biggest task I had was to find a field truck. After a week of pestering everyone I saw and met where they bought their truck, it was clear that the best quality trucks can be found in the Cayo district, where the roads are (mostly) paved. We were off to Cayo!

While I looked for a truck, we did touristy things and generally enjoyed being in San Ignacio. We went to all the archaeological sites we could (Cahal Pech, Xunantunich) including Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave (here’s a post from my previous visit), which was amazing as always. We delicious Indian food, went shopping, and explored the market – good times. Sadly, Meg had to go back to North Carolina eventually, so we went to Belize City for a night so I could see her off. I wish she could have stayed the entire time.

To make a long story short, I found a truck – a green Ford Ranger with an Iron Maiden sticker on the back, and a second sticker that says, “Don’t Hassle Me, I’m a Local.” Ha! The tires really sucked, but I did a good job bargaining with the guy. I loaded it up with things that are more expensive to get in Toledo (a crock pot, a good pan) and headed south.

*Beautiful pictures courtesy of Meg Kassabaum!